


As The Day They Were Born

by Endangered_Slug



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Not a whole lot of plot to speak of, RSS, Rumbelle - Freeform, Rumbelle Secret Santa, Very AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-26
Updated: 2014-01-26
Packaged: 2018-01-10 03:48:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1154496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Endangered_Slug/pseuds/Endangered_Slug
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Belle helps Rumpelstiltskin cast a spell.</p>
            </blockquote>





	As The Day They Were Born

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lizandletdie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lizandletdie/gifts).



> The prompts I was given are: Dark castle, woobie rumpel, smut? Obviously this is AU in the most AU ways one can AU an AU. With my apologies to the amazing Terry Pratchett who unknowingly provided a plot devise and to my lovely RSS because I'm fairly certain this isn't what she had in mind. (I am also very sorry for the lurid purple prose and terrible pacing)

There were three simple rules at the Dark Castle and Belle had managed to break two of them the first week of her installation as Rumpelstiltskin's new maid.

She broke the first rule (“You're not to leave the castle, dearie.”) on her second day when she tried to gain access the small garden plot outside the kitchen. To be sure it was wintertime and therefore nothing would have been growing, but Belle had become stifled both by the heat of the kitchen fire and the weighty responsibility she'd placed upon herself. She felt a window to crack or door to leave open - just a tiny bit - to let in some fresh air would help keep her head clear and her thoughts from turning maudlin. Maybe she'd take a short walk around the perimeter after she finished burning dinner (her third try). But the door, even though it opened at her touch, snapped shut in her face nearly taking off her nose in the process. She'd complained to Rumpelstiltskin about it and even though he seems bemused by her tirade, he modified the rule so she could go outside but not leave the castle grounds.

The second rule was never touch any magical object without first knowing that it was safe and this was an easy one as far as intentions went.

Unfortunately, not every magical item in the castle was obvious about it and over the weeks Belle had several times found herself on the receiving end of a fair amount of misdirected spells and unintentional jinxes culminating in what Rumpelstiltskin liked to refer as The Day Belle Went Belly Up. The result of _that_ was his casting a spell over his collection so that whenever Belle came near something she should avoid the item buzzed in warning before she could inadvertently set it off. Rumpelstiltskin called it the No-No Charm and teased her a bit but Belle thought it was very well worth it after having spent half a day glued to the ceiling of the great hall with a filthy duster in one hand and her book fallen to the floor with its spine bent and her place lost. And if Rumpelstiltskin's concentration was sometimes lost due to the occasional loud BZZZZT reverberating throughout the Dark Castle, well then, it was his own fault for housing so many dangerous artifacts.

Once she knew which things to avoid the castle became a much quieter place to work in, but Rumpelstiltskin sometimes forgot that the charm didn't extend to newly acquired goods which started the whole thing over again. Frustrating, but usually quickly fixed.

After Belle had acclimated herself to life first as a maid and then as a friend to the Dark One she realized that there was more to the famed Rumpelstiltskin than she thought. It took her less than a week to figure out that the big, scary monster every man, woman and child in the nine realms feared was basically just a man. Sort of short, sort of thin, sort of shy, and sort of lonely. He was at once terrible and imposing because he was, after all, _The_ Rumpelstiltskin, but he'd never laid a finger on her in anger or punished her for getting into things she shouldn't or treated her badly. He got flustered at her touch, teased her when she was too curious for her own good, and had a wicked sharp sense of humor. When he wasn't grandstanding, he was quiet; more often than not spending an evening at his spinning wheel than out in the world depriving innocent people of their precious things. And as far as that went, she had also come to learn that people were plain stupid and should stop to read the fine print before signing away their lives. _She_ knew what she was doing, but she had the advantage of having brains and using them.

Rumpelstiltskin, on the other hand, was entirely perplexed by his new maid. She befuddled him greatly with her blue eyes, smiling red lips and curly chestnut hair so soft his fingers itched to touch it. She didn't cry once her homesickness wore off, didn't avoid him (in fact she often searched him out - to keep him company she said), never demanded to be set free or complained about her work load. She gave him a hug and he gave her a library even after she thwarted him from killing a thief. If they kept it up at this rate he would be installing her as a queen in her own kingdom by the fifth month of the next year. His blood tingled at the prospect but he never pursued that particular avenue. He'd been fooled more than once by a pair of pretty eyes and smiling lips before... Though, never had those woman ever treated him as someone worth anything whereas Belle... _did_.

Rumpelstiltskin didn't know what to think of the Belle situation he only knew that he was beginning to lose his heart and his focus and despaired of ever finding his son because of it. After about five months he doubled his efforts to put pieces into play in order to achieve his goal.

It was around this time when Belle found herself staring face to face with a snarling pearwood trunk standing on hundreds of little legs and sporting very sharp, square teeth and it was this piece of luggage that caused Belle to break the immutable third rule: Never, ever, on pain of a very stern talking to and finger wagging, disturb Rumpelstiltskin while he was working in the great tower.

"I practice my magic up there, Dearie. Noxious odors and poisons. Best not to go near them lest they melt the flesh off your very pretty bones. Of course, I'd be able to use them in some of my more nasty potions so it wouldn't be a complete waste,” he'd said accompanied by one of his manic giggles.

Belle flew up the winding stairs, screaming his name as she ran up, up and up. Rumpelstiltskin barely had time to react before she came stumbling into the room with a great cry and slamming the door shut with her back pressed to it.

“Rumpel— stiltskin! There's a homicidal trunk trying to eat me and _where are your clothes_?”

Rumpelstiltskin stood behind a long table in the middle of the room clutching a hastily grabbed spellbook to cover himself, his expression twisting as if it didn't know whether to be mortified or enraged, his shoulders hunched over trying to hide himself and doing a very poor job.

"I thought I told you never to disturb me while I was working!"

Oh, he seemed very angry and she was sorry for it but still, Belle couldn't look away from the book he was clutching with both hands as if his life depended on it. "Your work? What exactly _do_ you do up here?"

He straightened up with as much dignity as he could considering he was concealing said dignity with a book. " _Very_ delicate work, my dear. Now if you'll just turn yourself around and leave me to do it we'll pretend this never happened."

Belle dragged her eyes up with great difficulty and tried to keep her blush at a reasonable shade of red. She was horribly embarrassed for catching him doing... whatever it was he was doing but there was no chance of her leaving while there was a bit of baggage trying to kill her. She looked at the book again then back up to Rumpelstiltskin's face then back down. His hand was covering the title. She leaned over trying to make out what was written (a natural instinct of hers) but he jumped back a step.

"What are you doing?" he hissed.

She straightened up sure her face was positively glowing red. "Trying to read the title. And you're covered in goose bumps."

“The windows are open. It gets chilly.” 

Belle quickly glanced down again before setting her gaze strictly on his left eyebrow. "But why are you naked?"

He sighed. “It's a finding spell. One that ancient witches practiced before the name of this land was even thought of.”

“And you have to be naked to cast it?”

“Do you think I do this for fun?” he said with some exasperation. “Yes! A drop of blood, standing naked during a waxing moon on the eleventh month. I should be grateful it doesn't require more. The spell isn't complicated but it's very specific. It's best performed with a coven but as I'm fresh out of witches, it's just me. Now if you'll be so good as to leave so I can get on with it?”

“What? No! I can't go out there, you brought home a rabid piece of luggage.” She glanced around the room noting the shelves holding vials and murky glass jars; a small cauldron on the table by the window was smoking. It looked like one of the jars was full of finger bones. She stared at it instead of him. “What is it you're looking for?”

Rumpelstiltskin didn't answer immediately and when he did his voice was so low and so broken that she almost missed it. “Something precious to me. Something I lost long ago.”

“And you need this spell to find it?” Next to the jar of finger bones was a tall beaker holding something scaly. Belle hoped it was fully dead.

“Mmmm, well it's part of a larger spell, but yes, I need it.” 

“And you absolutely _have_ to be naked for this?”

“Why do I feel like we've covered this before? Yes— What are you doing?” His voice came out in appalling squeak but there was no recovering from the sight of Belle undoing her laces before him.

She paused midway before looking up. “I'm helping you, Rumpelstiltskin. What else would I do? Now help me get out of this and we can get started.” She shimmied out of her bodice before chucking it on the floor, leaving her in her full skirts and thin chemise and Rumpelstiltskin gaping.

“I can't ask you to do thi— Please put your cl-lothes back on," he asked helplessly. He moved to stop her but he couldn't really do anything without putting the book down and he would do _anything_ other than that at this moment.

She stubbornly untied the fastenings of her skirt with quick, sharp movements daring him to stop her. His skin was turning an unusual shade of purple over the green grey scales, indecision and anguish written all over him. He had his head turned up as if his eyeballs would fall out if he so much as glanced in her direction.

“You're not asking,” she said gently. “I'm offering. So let's do it before I freeze to death.”

Finally he looked right at her and seemed as if he was going to protest some more but she silenced him with a lift of her eyebrow and dropped her skirt.

She watched his Adam's apple bob up and down then again as he debated with himself. She left him to it and continued to shed layers of clothing until there was a pile at her feet. She quickly kicked it to the side.

She took a steadying breath. "There's no need to feel any shame, Rumpelstiltskin. It's just us and who's to know?" Belle was certain that if they handed out medals for bravery - and they certainly did for killing people which she never understood- then she would get top honors. Her knees felt like jelly and she fought to keep her voice from shaking and her head level. Do the brave thing her papa would say, and bravery would follow.

"This," he gestured towards his chest with its mottled, scaly skin. "This doesn't frighten you?"

She looked at him from the tips of his toes, up over the knobby knees, past the book he still held before him and his chest which was lean but strong. All the way up to his face where her eyes lingered.

"I'll admit that I'm a bit nervous, but you don't scare me. I'm happy to help." She gave him an encouraging smile which he tried valiantly to return.

He closed his eyes briefly once more gathering up his own courage. "Very well then. Turn around and face the table. I'll at least spare you the gruesome details.” He waved a hand in her general direction. “I promise I won't look at anything I shouldn't."

She felt a bit of disappointment at that and a slight twinge of unfairness but it was getting cold. She turned around and two seconds later the book was placed in front of her with a finality that made her shiver.

Now that she could see it better, the drawings did show a circle of what were supposed to be witches, their hands clasped together, naked as the day they were born (though she doubted that the artist had ever seen a nude woman before because breasts certainly didn't look like _that_ ) and they seemed to be chanting. One lone witch stood in the middle with a knife raised up as if to strike someone down.

“Close your eyes.”

His voice was low and startled her back to the present.

“Why?”

He gave out an exasperated sigh. “Because I want your attention on the spell. Besides, you've seen enough I think. I'll do the actual casting but you'll help me channel the energy. This is why more than one person is needed. You can do it with one, but more is better. Gives the spell a bit of a kick in the pants.” 

"And the blood?"

He shrugged. "Just a drop will do. Merely a prick on my fingertip and into the vial."

“Really?” Surprised, she turned back around to face him where he hastily averted his gaze to the window behind her. “I thought most of these things required blood of a virgin. They do in the books I read.”

“You shouldn't believe everything you read and no, in this case, your... er, blood isn't required. It's my lost, um, thing so it's my blood we'll use. Besides, I'd hate to mar your... _very_ lovely skin. You really should turn back around now," he pleaded.

Perplexed, she nodded once, turned back to the table and closed her eyes.

Once he was satisfied that her eyes were closed and she was done asking questions he continued. “Now, I'm going to touch you. Just with my hands and nowhere that would make you blush. Normally, these, um, things are done in a circle and we mustn't break contact. But since there are just two to our little coven, we're going to have to make do. Are you ready?”

Belle nodded her head.

He hesitated, taking the time to look at the way her skin shone in the moonlight, her face turned towards him in trust with her fluttering eyelids closed. He took a shaky breath then put his hands on her shoulders light enough so that his fingertips barely touched her. “Now, I want you to concentrate, Belle. Do you feel me?”

“Yes.” And she _could_ feel him. Behind her, around her and all the way down to the tips of her toes and deep in her belly where the warmth of his voice spread outward in a rush of sheer adrenaline, setting her senses afire.

He cleared his throat.“Good," he said, voice low and intimate in her ear. "Now magic is fueled by our emotions. Hate, passion, shame, desire. _Hope_. All these things help channel the energy needed to create the spell. To bind it and mold it to our will. It gives the thing shape, if you will. Anyone can do magic given enough emotion and motivation, but controlling it is another matter. Do you understand?”

Belle breathed out slowly. “I think so. Which emotion are we using?"

"The best one of all. Love." He slowly brought his hands forward as he began to speak, feather light and whisper soft against her skin causing the tiny hairs on her arm to stand straight up, crackling with energy. "I want you to think very hard about someone special to you. Someone you love dearly."

His voice caressed her as much as his fingers did, weaving around her being and entering her mind with its wicked timbre and alluring accent. She felt ridiculous - he was only touching her arms, it was an innocent gesture. Not any place where that would cause her to blush he'd said but she was not expecting her body's reaction and almost willed him to dare to touch her someplace worthy of a blush. Several blushes, in fact.

"Take that love that you feel and hold it steady in your mind. Imagine that person standing before you right now and how that would make you feel." He continued to brush along her arms until he reached her fingertips then slowly reached under to hold her palms flat against his. He was acutely aware of every millimeter of her. Her scent and shape and _willingness_ nearly overwhelming him past the brink of sanity and if this spell wasn't so damned important for finding his son he thought he may well have thrown caution to the wind, lose his mind completely and drive himself cock and balls deep into her until they merged into one and there was no more Rumpelstiltskin _or_ Belle but just the two them. Together. He began shaking with the effort of keeping focused on his task. He had to see it through without harming his bewitching maid; beads of sweat appeared on his forehead as he pulled himself together.

Her breath hitched as he softly folded his fingers around hers. He kept everything else as far from her as possible. No need to let her feel what this closeness was doing to him and force her to have the burden of that knowledge. He could take care of matters later.

"Do you see?" he asked.

"Yes," she breathed. "He's right there. What do I do now?"

He winced at her confirmation that her love was male, but it came as no surprise. She had a beloved father and her mother was dead; she also had been engaged. He should have expected it, but it pained him just the same. He took a deep breath and went on. "Now you hold onto him. Pour your love into your image and I'll do the rest."

She was silent as he completed the spell, concentrating so much that he felt her quivering with the effort, her breath coming in short gasps by the time it was over. As he recited the final words Belle cried out as the coiled up pressure inside her exploded in a shimmering golden glow of magic covering their entwined hands sending out tendrils of light to caress them before bursting outwards like a firework. He just barely had time to nick his finger and spill his blood, thick and red, into the glass jar before the light faded away leaving him dazed and sun blinded and spent.

He let go of her hands and gasped as he lost contact with her. He needed to process what had just happened. He needed to cap his vial. He needed to get away from Belle and the temptation she heaped upon him. And he needed a few minutes behind a locked door.

“I don't feel cold anymore," she whispered.

He tried to swallow but his throat was dry and scratchy. “Me neither."

 

She turned around, her blue eyes dilated and beautiful face flushed but determined and brave and so very _there_ that he couldn't believe that this wasn't some hallucination brought on by the magic they'd performed.

“Are you— are you quite sure you don't need the blood of a virgin?”

“What are you saying,” he whispered.

“What I'm saying, Rumpelstiltskin, is that when you had me feel my strongest, deepest love all I could think about was you. And I like the way it felt.”

“You shouldn't.”

“That's what my books tell me but, you know,” she said with a smirk on her lips. “I don't believe everything I read.” She deliberately lowered her gaze to take him in. "And it seems you liked it, too."

He clenched his fists tightly to keep from covering himself like a lad in his first youth. "What's not to like? There's a beautiful, naked woman in my arms and I'm a cruel monster."

She shook her head at him as she stepped closer to wrap her arms around his neck. "Funny, I don't believe that one, either." She stood up on her toes and kissed him.

Belle thought this was what leading a charge into battle felt like. Fire was running through her veins and her head was swimming as Rumpelstiltskin kissed her back, tentatively at first then with earnest passion, all lips teeth and tongue as if he sought to devour her whole. She felt him against her, thick and hard and impatient and the answering rush of excitement made her legs weak. They crumbled to the floor when her knees finally gave out, his hand catching the back of her head before it hit the flagstones.

"You wicked, wicked woman," he murmured at her ear as he cradled her head. "Why do you tempt me so? Why—"

She silenced him with a well placed hand, exploring him softly with her fingers. Rumpelstiltskin broke away with a gasp watching her hand on him. "You are a brave one," he said broken and desperate.

She smiled and tightened her grip a bit eliciting another glorious tortured sound from him.

"Belle, I— you have to stop!" His breath was ragged with her efforts and he looked like he was in pain. He groaned as she pulled her hand away.

"I'm sorry, was that too tight?"

He would have laughed if he had the breath. "No, it was perfect," he said as he kissed her face, first her eyelids, then her nose and cheeks before hovering over her mouth. "Perfect. I was enjoying it too much and I didn't want to waste such an opportunity."

"Is this only an opportunity then," she asked.

Shaken, he pulled back a couple of inches. "No, Belle. You are a shining light. A beacon for this lost monster."

"You're not a monster," she insisted and pulled him down to her.

Belle fell into an existence of sensory overload as Rumpelstiltskin kissed and licked and bit his way down her body. She didn't know how long he spent worshipping her body with his mouth and tongue but she felt as if her entire life was leading up to the very moment when he nudged her legs open and entered her with a tortured moan, her heels hard against his ass pulling him closer, tasting herself on his mouth as he drank the hoarse cries from her lips. She'd heard once that Rumpelstiltskin had a silver tongue and when he whispered filthy words into her ears as he poured himself into her while she came around his cock in another burst of light she fully grasped the meaning behind that phrase.

"Is it going to do that every time,” she asked as they watched the shimmering light fade away and trying to catch their breath. Belle felt as if she conquered the world. She supposed she did in a way. She brought the great Rumpelstiltskin down to his knees and she couldn't wait to do it again. Just as soon as she could feel her toes. 

He shrugged. "I don't know. But I'm willing to find out," he said with a smirk.

"You never did tell me what you were looking for," she said as she entwined her fingers around his looking at him expectantly. She kissed the tip of his pointy nose in encouragement. 

Rumpelstiltskin considered not answering. He considered lying, but in the end he thought that Belle deserved the truth. "My son."

She looked up at him in astonishment. "Your _son_? Oh, Rumple, we are going to have to have a long talk."


End file.
